Vehicle glazings, and in particular windshields and rear screens, are commonly associated with systems for collecting or removing runoff water.
Thus glazings are known which, along at least part of at least one edge comprise a profile section comprising a groove which can be used for the clip-fastening of a cover piece, for example a scuttle panel, or even for recovering and removing runoff water.
Such a profile section is generally fixed to the interior face of the glazed element (or interior face of the interior glass sheet) using an interior flange which is bonded against this interior face.
For this interior flange to adhere firmly to the glazed element, this interior flange needs to be relatively wide (when the profile section is viewed in cross section).
The prior art recognizes two types of situation:                where the cover piece covers at least the groove, protruding over the exterior face of the glazed element, such as, for example, in patent applications EP 945 296, DE 3606566; and        where the cover piece covers at least the groove without protruding over the exterior face of the glazed element, such as, for example, in patent applications WO 2001/045974 or WO 2001/85481.        
In the former situation, the cover piece needs to be wide enough to cover at least the interior flange so that it is not visible from the exterior and/or a masking strip is produced further toward the exterior than the interior flange.
In the latter situation, a masking strip is produced further toward the outside than the interior flange in order to cover at least the interior flange so that it is not visible from the exterior.
What these two situations have in common is that the cover piece and/or the masking strip are themselves or together at least as wide as the interior flange and generally wider than the interior flange, with the result that the unobstructed area for looking through the glazed element is reduced.
Furthermore, because of the presence of the interior flange at the corner between the edge face of the interior glass sheet and the interior face thereof, the bead of adhesive used to bond the glazing to the adjacent bodywork needs to be positioned further toward the center of the glazing; now, this bead of adhesive needs likewise to be hidden from the exterior.
It is therefore common practice to consider that there is a strip 30 to 35 mm wide along the edge of a glazing equipped with a grooved profile section that cannot be used to allow light through and which thus reduces the unobstructed area for looking through.